


Jack

by procellous



Category: Teen Titans (Comics)
Genre: Gen, i am unoriginal, this probably won't end up in timkon though, yet another tim clones kon fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-19
Updated: 2014-04-22
Packaged: 2018-01-16 07:55:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1337869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/procellous/pseuds/procellous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jumping on the Tim clones Kon bandwagon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of Teen Titans v3 #37 (2006), where Tim tries to clone Kon.
> 
> In which Cassie doesn’t show up and Tim has a success.

«Attempt ninety-eight complete. Protein link failure at seventy-two hours twelve minutes fifteen seconds. Attempt ninety-nine unsuccessful.»

“Computer,” Tim said, leaning on the case that held his samples, “What went wrong?”

«Kryptonian extra-terrestrial DNA rejecting human DNA at level three. Stabilizer needed. Solution unknown.»

"Think, Tim," he muttered, "Think. Needs a stabilizer. This isn't the first time someone's tried to clone a Kryptonian. What did _they_ do?"

His eyes widened behind his mask as he remembered what Cadmus did.

"Worth a try, right?" he asked the silent lab as he reached for a syringe.

\--

«Attempt one-hundred successful.» the mechanical voice announced.

Tim's heart skipped a beat.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Tim has a baby, and realizes he didn't think this one through.

"WAAAAAAAAAH!" the baby wailed, tiny lungs somehow managing to carry across the entire apartment.

Which, to be honest, was not a very large apartment. Tim was trying to stay under the radar as much as possible while he cared for the five month old, which meant he couldn't have a large apartment. Easier to stay hidden with a small apartment like every other apartment in the building.

It had been a long five months.

He hadn't really thought about what would happen after the cloning. He would clone Kon and then…everything would be perfect.

Now he had a five month old baby made from the combined DNA of him and his best friend, he hadn't slept the night through in…well, if he was honest, since he had started going out as Robin, but he was especially sleep-deprived now.

"Sh, sh baby, I'm here," he said, lifting the crying boy into his arms and rocking him gently. "I've got you."

Someone knocked on his door. Probably one of the neighbors. He settled the baby on his hip and opened it to find –

Dick?

"Timmy?" Tim has a moment to panic – _oh god it's Dick he's going to call Bruce and Cassie he's going to ask about the baby what do I do what do I tell him_ – before Dick's grabbing him and pulling him into a huge hug. "You're okay!"

"What?"

Dick grabbed his shoulders, looking him full in the face. "Do you know how worried I was about you? You _disappeared_ , we haven't heard _anything_ from you in _five_ _months_! God, Timmy, I thought you were _dead_!"

"I'm sorry," Tim said quietly.

"I thought you were dead," Dick repeated, voice a broken whisper.. "I thought I had lost you."

"You didn't. I'm sorry. I've been here the whole time."

"Hey, stop that. You have nothing to be sorry for – is that a baby."

"Uh…"

"Is. That. A. Baby."

"Yes?"

"Please tell me that you're watching someone else's kid. _Please_."

"I'm watching someone else's kid?"

"I honestly thought you had more sense than getting someone knocked up."

"I have good news on that one. I didn't get anyone knocked up?"

" _Tim._ Where did you get the kid, then? Don't tell me you've picked up Bruce's habit of adopting strays –"

"It's kind of a long story. Um. Come on in, I guess. You might want to sit down."

"Tim, what happened? What did you do?"

" _IclonedKon._ "

"…you what?"

"I was desperate. And. Kon was a clone in the first place, so I figured I could re-clone him, but the DNA wasn't stable, it needed something to stabilize it, and then I remembered how Cadmus used human DNA for Kon and I was the only person in the lab and now I have a baby that's the combined DNA of me and Kon."

"Take a breath, Tim." Dick frowned. "When was the last time you slept?"

"…Last night?"

" _Really_ slept."

"Last week?" he offered.

"Don't lie to me, Tim."

"Last month?"

" _Tim._ "

"What? I've been busy."

"You need to sleep."

"You try being a single father, we'll see how much sleep you get."

"Have you been keeping Timmy up?" Dick asked the baby in Tim's arms, "You shouldn't do that to your dad."

"Da?" he repeated. "Dada, dada."

"He's adorable, Timmy."

"Yeah," Tim sighed, "He is. Jack, meet your Uncle Dick. He's kind of an idiot, so be gentle with him."

"Un'le Di?"

Dick practically had hearts in his eyes. "Yeah, Jack, I'm your Uncle Dick."

* * *

"So. You've hung up your cape."

"Wow. I can tell you were trained by the World's Greatest Detective. What led you to that conclusion?"

"Are you planning on going back? Maybe not as Robin, but as something else?"

"No. Jack needs me, and to be honest, every time we put on the costume we risk our lives. And Jack needs me, I can't leave him behind to play hero. Besides, what if he wanted to follow in my footsteps? I couldn't let him take that risk."

"Tim. I understand. But you don't have to hide."

"I just don't want him to find out. About me, about you – about the life."

"He'll find out one way or other. You know he will."

"Is it so wrong that I want him to be as safe as I can make him? If someone found out about him, if someone found out he knew about _us_? I just…I can't endanger him like that." Tears started to spring up in Tim's eyes.

Dick pulled him into a tight hug, resting Tim's head on his shoulder. "It's okay. It's okay. He'll be as safe as can be. We can keep him safe. Keep him secret, too. Just between the two of us. Bruce doesn't need to know, neither does Babs. Just the two of us, we can keep him safe."

"Thanks, big brother."

"No problem, baby bird."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Tim takes a new name.

 "I may not be able to risk my life every night like you do anymore, but I still need to help. Do you think Oracle could use a partner?"

\--

«Hello, Cyborg,» a voice said from his computer, the screen flickering to a red symbol on a black background.

"Who're you and how did you get into the system?"

«I'm called Prophet. I work with Oracle.»

"You two certainly have a theme in naming. But what're you doing in _my_ system?"

«Simply saying hello.»

"Yeah, well, hi. Now get outta my system."

The screen flickered back to what he had been working on.

He almost didn't notice the new file – a_present – that Prophet had left.

Cyborg opened it hesitantly – Prophet could be lying about working with Oracle, after all – and found a list of possible new Titans to consider; everything from name to powers to personality and how they might integrate onto the team. Even origin stories for some of them.

It must have taken _weeks_ to gather all the data.

a_present indeed.

\--

«Prophet, is the line secure?»

"It's secure, Oracle. What do you need?"

«A favor.»

"What kind of favor?"

«You've heard of the new Blue Beetle, right?»

"The one you _tried_ to convince to join up with you?"

«That's the one.»

"So this is recruit Blue Beetle part two?"

«Yep.»

"I'll see what I can do."

\--

When Jaime's computer screen flickered and showed a red logo, Jaime groaned.

"Another one of you?"

«Sorry. I'm only here as a favor,» the voice said. It was a nicer voice than the last one, at least. Points to her. Or him. But it _sounded_ like a girl, at least.

"So…let me guess. You and Scary Computer Lady want me to join the Birds of Prey."

«Scary Computer Lady? Oh, you mean Oracle. No, we don't want you to join the Birds of Prey. Which really need another name. But for you, I was thinking something more along the lines of the Titans.» Bonus points for realizing that the Birds of Prey was a stupid name.

"The _Titans_? As in, the _Teen Titans_ , the Junior Justice League?"

«Yes, no, and no. The Titans aren't the Junior Justice League. They work together, sometimes, but they do their own thing. And they aren't the _Teen_ Titans anymore.»

"And if I told you I wasn't interested?"

«I'd say you were missing a great opportunity, but I won't force you.»

"Why should I join? What do I get out of it?" 

«Recognition, funding, meeting other superheroes your age?»

"Yeah, I'm not interested in joining your super-secret boy band. Sorry." 

«Invitation's open if you change your mind.» 

\-- 

Tim signed out, the screen going black. "Told you he wouldn't be interested."

«Alright, fine, you win. You'd think that he'd be at least a little interested.» 

"He called the Titans 'a super-secret boy band.'"

He could hear Babs burst into laughter on the other side of the connection. «A super-secret boy band?»

"As if you weren't listening in. Can you imagine, though?"

«You've seen Dick's Discowing suit, right?»

"The original Nightwing costume? I've seen pictures…that I took…"

«I'm picturing _that_ on everyone.»

Tim lost control and burst into laughter.

\-- 

«Um, Prophet?»

"Hey, Blue. What's up?"

«It's okay I'm calling you, right?»

"I wouldn't have left you the number if it wasn't."

«Oh. Right. Um, well, I'm at Titans Tower? Only it's kinda empty. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?»

"Empty…" he glanced at the feeds and felt his heart plummet down to his toes. _Shit shit shit shit._ "Be careful. I'm looking into it."

\--

"Da?"

"It's okay, Jack. I have to go somewhere for a little bit, but I'll be right back. Promise." He set Jack down in his crib and grabbed the earpiece connecting him to his son's room. 

The closet in his room opened, and he flipped a small switch on the underside of one of the drawers, revealing his Robin suit.

_Looks like I have work to do._


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Tim gets desperate.
> 
> Dialogue taken from Teen Titans v3 #51-54 (2007)

"I can see you're all wondering just what's going on," Superman said, only –

_That's not Superman. That's the one from the bad future, the one that kills people._

"You can't be from our future. Not anymore," Cassie said. "Conner and Bart and Tim are–"

"They died. It’s true." Not-Wonder Woman said. “Or, rather, Conner and Bart died, Tim retired.”

"I take it you've met these guys before?" Rose said to Cassie.

"They're…a bunch of authoritarian fear mongers."

"Even your old boyfriend?"

"He tortures your father with heat vision."

"I'm surprisingly unsure of how to feel about that."

"What are you doing here?" Cassie said, turning to their future selves.

"It's Titans Lair, headquarters of the original Teen Titans," Not-Batman said. "Cassandra thought it would be poetic.”

"You know that isn't what I meant. Why are you here now? What have you done with the Justice League?"

"It's hardly all the Justice League. Hell, J'onn J'onzz isn't even a member right now. These are just the ones we needed to have off duty for today," one of them, a white Martian with a long red ponytail that Tim almost didn't recognize her until he realized that she was the future Miss Martian.

"That's future me? Ewwww," M'gann said.

"Hnf," one of the future titans – Kid Devil, probably – said, "I can't believe I was ever that small."

"Hey, Ravager – did you notice there's no future us?" Kara muttered to Rose.

"Golly gee, aren't you observant? Must come standard with the blond hair and miniskirt," Rose fired back.

"As you can see from our lineup, the future you glimpsed has changed. We're here to make sure it stops changing."

"Well too bad for you," Tim said, striding forward. "Because I'm not becoming Batman and I will never carry a gun like he does."

Behind him he could hear the Titans whispering to each other about his sudden reappearance.

_That's Robin? He's shorter than I pictured – Yeah no, that's him – Wasn’t he dead or something? – Well he isn't anymore, now is he? – No, he was just retired – You sure about that –_

"If that's true, then how do you explain our continued existence? That you've not wised up despite all the dead loved ones in our life is an insult to their memories." Not-Batman said, "But you still have it in you to step up before it's too late – before even more Titans have to die."

"And by step up you mean kill, right?" "Enough of this posturing crap," Not-Superman said. "We have less than an hour before Starro sends out a bunch of super villains to launch simultaneous terror attacks designed to attract, distract, and weaken these four."

"Historically, they do stop Starro and minimize casualties…but just barely, leaving them ripe for what's coming," Not-Wonder Woman said. "Now it's up to you to fight in their place."

* * *

 

Tim heaved the wooden beam up to rescue the people trapped inside, pointedly ignoring the cowl-wearing future behind him.

"You're making a mistake."

"What?"

"You'll never be able to raise him right."

"What's wrong with you? Stop brooding and help me with the –" A foot in his back cut him off.

"Real mature," Tim said as he flipped away from his older self. "I thought you were supposed to be older, wiser –"

Oh shit. That wasn't Batman.

"Prometheus," he said.

"Even under Starro's control, he's still a better fighter than you are. Far better."

"I know. But it doesn't matter." His throwing stars broke off Prometheus' arm.

"If I can get the Starro clone off of him –"

Block his punch and get blocked in turn –

"Can't –"

A punch in his face, and that's a broken nose –

"Come on –"

He hits the ground, hard. _He's going to lose._

As if on cue, the earpiece clicks on, Jack’s breaths as he slept playing in Tim’s ear.

_But Jack needs him. He can't lose._

Prometheus moves to punch him and he ducks down, using Prometheus' momentum to push him out the window with an almighty crash.

"Good work."

"Bought me…a few seconds."

He looked up at his future self and saw that the man hadn't even tried to rescue the people inside the burning hospital.

“You’re…letting people die…”

"If everyone in this hospital died, it would be nothing compared with how many innocents will suffer if you don't learn how to make a real difference."

"You…you're right." He struck the gun out of Batman's hand, kicking him down and away. "I will make a real difference…"

He grabbed the gun from where it had fallen and pressed the muzzle to his temple.

"…Starting with us."

The earpiece clicked back off. _I'm sorry, Jack,_ he thought, _But I can't let this happen. Better for you to not have a father than a gun-toting psycho killer._

* * *

 

"I swear, I miss out on all the cool imprisonments," Jaime said, looking at Superman, imprisoned in a tube.

"Blue…Beetle…" Superman groaned.

"Did Kid Devil do this? Did he do the whole "turn evil and betray the Teen Titans" thing? 'Cause I followed his energy signal here and –"

"No…Titans…future…"

"Huh?"

"Beetle.” Batman interrupted. “Get us out of these cells."

"Oh. Right. Never fear, seasoned super heroes, I'll get you out in a fl–" He didn't even see the hit, just fell.

"C'mon. Finish the sentence."


End file.
